Recent Faculty Accomplishments

The UL School of Architecture and Design faculty has been busy, conducting research, designing and building projects of every scale, and garnering recognition for their contributions in these arenas.

Two of our long-time faculty members and program coordinators retired last Spring, Jean Edwards and Jerry Malinowski; we are deeply grateful for their important contributions to our school and wish them well in retirement. We are very excited to welcome two new tenure-track faculty members to our school, Liane Hancock and Bosheng Liu. We are also proud to announce the promotion of Graduate Coordinator Kari Smith to full professor, William Riehm's award of tenure and promotion to Interior Design Coordinator, and Thomas Cline's new position serving as Interim Program Coordinator for Industrial Design. We are excited to begin the new semester and welcome our new and returning students to Fletcher Hall.

Here is a list of recent accomplishments by the School of Architecture and Design Faculty:

Overall Faculty Accomplishments and Announcements

• $300,000 funded research
• Two international papers
• 18 national papers
• Several practicing architects, interior designers, and industrial designers
• Ten houses being designed, under construction, being built
• UL Child Development Center Playground
• Bike bag designed by students for Red Bull
• Two urban design projects
• Two Interior Design projects
• Two successful national accreditation reviews (CIDA and NASAD)
• DSGN 101 and 102 have moved upstairs in new open area behind Art Gallery
• Several Student Organization Faculty Representatives

Michael McClure, Sarah Young, Katie Murphy
• emerymcclure architecture finished projects including Gator House in New Roads; started construction on the Slatten House in Lafayette; and the CC House in Scott. Other projects in various stages of development are the Fontana House in Zachary, the Pecan House in St. Gabriel, and the FARM:  a multi-unit development south of Baton Rouge.

Michael McClure, Sarah Young
• emerymcclure and Sarah Young’s design research proposal, '31' was selected as one of twelve finalists and the installation will be built in Dallas this fall as part of 'The Sukkah Project'.

Michael McClure
• emerymcclure architecture was named the Boutique Residential Architecture Firm of the Year by Corporate LiveWire, a UK-based business publication.

Sarah Young
• Presented research at the National Conference on the Beginning Design Student and at WSSA.
• Presented at the 25th International Writing Across the Curriculum Conference at Auburn University.
• Passed three Architect Registration Examinations over the summer.

Geoff Gjertson
• 1020 House for Habitat for Humanity, a project designed and being built by students
• In 2016, W. Geoff Gjertson, AIA took a sabbatical from teaching and joined the design team at the MBSB Group, a highly respected firm led by Mark Stielper, AIA, in Lafayette, Louisiana.
While there, Professor Gjertson worked alongside a dedicated team of architects and designers to complete the construction drawings and specifications for a 66,000 square foot addition to Milton Elementary and Middle School as well as several thousand square feet of renovations to the existing facility. The design knit together the entire school for 1200 students, replaced 30 portable classroom buildings, and created a "town along a river" through a curving hallway and nested classroom pods. The building was built by Keiland Construction and reopened for school August 2018. Also on the team were Bellard & Associates, M&E Consulting, Thomassee & Associates, Domingue Szabo & Associates, as well as several other consultants.

Thomas Sammons, Thomas Cline
• Camp Minden Urban Design Project

Thomas Sammons
• Presented at the World Symposium on Civil Engineering, Architecture and Urban Design in Prague.

Thomas Cline
• Paper presentation "Resisting Alternative Memories:  Re-envisioning an Environmentalism of the Oppressed" at the 2017 American Educational Studies Association Annual Conference in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
• Paper presentation "Making Time:  Diversity and Undergraduate Education" with Kiwana McClung at the 2018 National Conference on the Beginning Design Student held at the University of Cincinnati.
• Paper presentation "Craftsmanship as an Educational Concept:  An Historical Exploration of Vitruvius' de Architectura" at the 2018 National Conference on the Beginning Design Student held at the University of Cincinnati.
• Paper presentation "Encounters with Craft: Craft as Knowledge" in November at the 2018 American Educational Studies Association Annual Conference held in Greenville, South Carolina.
• Submitted the final Master Plan for Camp Beauregard, Louisiana National Guard with Kari Smith and Tom Sammons.
• Contracted the Master Plan for Camp Villere and Jackson Barracks, Louisiana National Guard with Tom Sammons.

Ashlie Latiolais
• 80% construction complete on the UL Child Development Center playground project.
• Completing construction documents for a residential project - the FARMhouse in Rayne, Louisiana.
• Attended the AIA National Convention in NYC this past June.
• Presented at the International Conference on Thinking in Miami, Florida.
• Abstract accepted at the ACSA Fall Conference
• Abstract accepted at the International Conference on Darkness in Norway (January 2019) - "Unfolded: Navigating Darkness in Performance"

Corey Saft
• Established a non-profit housing development corporation and had their first project funded to acquire, rehab and make affordable 7 houses in Opelousas.
• Paper presentation at the Conference on Advanced Building Skins in Bern, Switzerland in October.

Karen McKinney
• Grant to continue a Grand Isle research project was approved for $5000 from the Louisiana Division of Historic Preservation.
• Proposal titled “Louisiana Coastal Vernacular: Grand Isle 1780-1931” was accepted for presentation at the Southeast Chapter of the Society of Architectural Historians Conference in Manhattan, Kansas on October 4-6.

Adam Feld
• Red Bull venture, Project Pilot Run, was completed and submitted to Red Bull…  design of travel case for a professional BMX Rider.
• Presented paper “Everyday Design: A Participatory/Co-Design Experience” and co-chaired a session at the 9th International Conference on Applied Factors and Ergonomics.

Kiwana McClung
• Served as a member of the NCARB Think Tank. One of two Think Tank members invited to attend the NCARB Annual Business Meeting and facilitated several workshops for professionals across the country. These workshops were aimed at devising ways to improve gender and racial diversity within Schools of Architecture and the profession.

Kiwana McClung, William Riehm
• Had abstract for a paper accepted at the Inside the City IE Conference in London in November this year.

William Riehm
• Headed up the conceptual design for the Kathleen Babineaux Blanco Public Policy Center and Archive which is planned to open in Dupré Library

Hector LaSala
• Jillian Johnson Pavilion (victim of 2015 shooting at Lafayette's Grand Theater) is being built.
• Invited to lecture and conduct a workshop by the architecture school at El Salvador’s National University in October.
• Preparing a lecture for our students of trip to Northern Italy.

Nadya Kozinets
•  Article published, “College Student Journal: Spatiality, Experiences, and the Formation of Place Attachment at Campus Student Life Centers”.
•  Forth Year Interior Design studio will be doing a calling center office for the Alumni Center. Great marketing tool when donors are solicited and told the caller is working in a space designed by UL's Interior Design students.

Brian Powell
• Brian has been working the Governor's Mansion Renovation Foundation on updating the interiors of the family quarters of the Louisiana Governor's Mansion.  He and UL Graduate Justine Hebert are nearing the completion of the Sunshine Room which includes two specially commissioned pieces of art by Louisiana Artist Kelli Kaufman, as well as a custom cypress desk of locally sourced cypress.  The final spaces will be featured in a book by First Lady Donna Edwards on the history of the Louisiana Governors Mansion.

Kari Smith
• Funded research projects include the Sea Grant Integrated Research and Engagement Proposal and a contract with the McIlhenny Company

• Promoted to Full Professor

Kari Smith, Dan Burkett
• Pre-design for the UL Lafayette Coastal Research Field Station

Andy Loewy
• Finished a design/build art studio project in Oakland, California that will be the inspiration for a presentation at the 2019 WSSA conference in San Diego, California.
• Designed and built a set of handrails from wood and steel for Temple Shalom in Lafayette.
• Working on an exhibit at the Lafayette Science Museum that will commemorate the Transportation Studio and Jerry Malinowski's contribution to the Industrial Design program.
• Organizing a panel/lecture for the SOAD lecture series called "Rags to Riches in Acadiana" where prominent local entrepreneurs will tell the stories of how they became successful.